Real suffer shock first leg defeat at Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg 2 Madrid 0

PSG 2    Man City 2

Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid suffered a shock 2-0 Champions League defeat at Wolfsburg in Wednesday’s quarter-final, first-leg to leave them on the verge of a European exit.

In Paris, away goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho handed Manchester City a 2-2 first-leg draw at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday to give the English side the edge in their Champions League quarter-final tie.

De Bruyne put City ahead on 38 minutes, only for Ibrahimovic to level after an embarrassing mix-up in the visitors’ defence soon after.

Adrien Rabiot then put PSG ahead just before the hour, but Fernandinho made it 2-2 on 72 minutes and ensured the French giants will be chasing the tie in next Tuesday’s second leg.

“It was a crazy game and we played our part in a great game of football,” Hart told BT Sport.

Madrid falls

On a night in Germany that will be remembered for some comical defending and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic penalty that was saved by City goalkeeper Joe Hart, the Premier League side twice punished mistakes by their hosts.

Just five days after ending Barcelona’s 39-game unbeaten run with a 2-1 away win in El Clasico, Real were humbled as Wolfsburg ignored their struggling mid-table form in Germany’s top flight.

Real never recovered as first-half goals from Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold put the hosts 2-0 up at the Volkswagen Arena with 25 minutes gone.

“I’m not happy, above all with the first-half. This can happen If you don’t play with intensity from the start,” said Zidane.

“Despite everything I’m proud of the team, we have to think about resting well and think about the return because we have the chance to change this in the return leg.”

Real’s six-game winning streak was ended as Wolfsburg picked up their first win in four games since beating Gent in the last 16 of the tournament.

To give the result context, Wolfsburg needed a 93rd minute equaliser to seal a 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Darmstadt on their last home league appearance.

There was no hint they would bother Real when they crashed 3-0 at Bayer Leverkusen last Friday in Germany’s top flight.

But having also beaten Manchester United 3-2 at home in the group stages, Wolfsburg now have the upper hand ahead of Tuesday’s return leg at the Bernabeu.

AFP